Barefoot
by Woodrokiro
Summary: When Sano said he was returning, none of them imagined THIS would happen. Neither did Megumi.


When Kenshin and Kaoru receive a note from Sano stating he was back in Japan, they didn't think much of it. Kaoru bounces Kenji on her hip as she rolls her eyes, wonders aloud how much longer it'll be before they see him back in Tokyo because he'll most definitely get _lost_ on the way so maybe, what Kenshin? Another three years? And Kenshin just smiles like he knows something but won't tell her what.

As it turns out, for once, Kenshin didn't even have a clue he was in for _this_ sight, seven months later. He doesn't think any of them did.

Sanosuke grins lazily, lifts a hand to the couple and Yahiko in greeting. A very red Megumi stands next to him, eyes daring anyone to say something. He swishes a piece of straw in his mouth before Megumi angrily swats it out, tells him if he saw the world and was able to leave them for five years he should've learned to be more _civilized_ for God's sake.

Their friends barely listen.

Their wide eyed focus is on the large bump of Megumi's belly.

"... So _that's_ why it took you guys so long to get here," Yahiko finally whistles. Kaoru lets out a nervous guffaw before remembering herself and smacking the back of his head. Megumi stands stock still, looking more frazzled than anyone's ever seen her.

Sanosuke just grins wider at Kenshin, and-of course-he smiles back.

...

" _When?_ "

Megumi feels like like she's in an interrogation center, not the Kamiya sitting room. She rubs her temples.

"Listen, this is... Actually a much longer story than ever needs to be told-"

"Right when I stepped through her clinic in Aizu. She knew she had to have me then and there."

"Sano, shut up."

" _Why?_ "

"I told you, she had to have me. Nothing I could do about it, it seemed like. I was so pure, so innocent-Ouch! That hurt, Foxie!"

"You aren't allowed to talk anymore. I don't know why, Yahiko. I really can't answer that, especially right now."

" _But how?_ "

The group falls into a silence as they look at a mortified Kaoru.

"Aren't you a ma, Little Missy?"

"Be a little less coarse, Kaoru, if not for your child at least for Ken-chan."

"That's not what I meant!" Her blush deepens as she struggles not to make eye contact with Kenshin casually sipping tea next to her. "I just... This is all so sudden! How did you find her, how did this all happen, why-WHAT IS THAT." She points an accusatory finger at the gem sparkling on Megumi's left hand.

"Never seen a ring before, Missy? Got it from... Well. Let's just say I found it, okay? Megumi will have my hide if I tell the story again. Anyway, it's a Western custom thing. For marriage and whatever. I got one, too." Sano flashes his hand, where a simple gold band rests. Megumi closes her eyes, preparing for the onslaught.

"YOU'RE MARRIED?"

"What the hell, why weren't we invited?!"

" _Language_ , Yahiko-"

"Damn it Kaoru, I'm sixteen-"

"But really! You couldn't have just _waited_ until you got here? Or even send a letter telling us?"

"Told you, she had to have me then and there."

"Shut _up_ , Sano-it's not like that. It was a very quick decision, we didn't even marry in Aizu."

"Yep, got hitched in Shinshuu. Had to go there to let my pops know I was all right, let Megumi meet the family, figured it was a good place for all that."

"Well that still doesn't make any-wait... Sano _you have a family_?!"

Megumi groans and looks to Kenshin for help, only to see him quietly chuckling into his tea. It is the first time she has the urge to punch him.

...

Megumi isn't lying. She really doesn't know why it happened.

One moment she's finishing up with a patient, the next she looks over at the front door and he's _there_ , he's _right there_ and not a letter or a strange foreign bauble but tangible, all sharp muscles and dirt and boyish grin like gold and she just. She wonders how he can take her breath away, so easily.

And now she's making dinner for him in Dr. Gensai's home, barefoot and pregnant. She's as unbelieving of it as they all are. She guffaws into the stew she's seasoning. If her mother could see her now.

Actually, Megumi knows _exactly_ what her parents would think: how they would smile looking at her life now-not because they necessarily would approve, but it's obvious to everyone how stupidly happy she is. It's been a wild and insane seven months, how fast everything has happened-but then again? Considering all the coy looks and flirting, the hand bandaging and bickering, the nights she's prayed he was still alive and his stopping a _dagger_ through her heart-maybe it wasn't fast at all. Maybe (probably) it was a long time coming.

Sometimes, she still expects it to end.

"You'll leave me," she accused him recently, hormonal emotions running high after some stupid argument they were prone to. "You'll leave me again for Africa or Antarctica or whatever stupid country with an 'ah' sound and I'll be here hoping your hand is okay-stop picking at the wrapping like that-while bouncing a baby that looks like you on my hip-"

He throws his hands up in the air. "Well, God. If she acts anything like _you_ maybe I will! I can barely handle one fox, let alone two."

She glares at him. "They'll write a tragic opera about me."

"Yeah, yeah." He leaves the house, and Megumi just felt it inside of her: how much she'd hurt him this time. His family was very kind, good people; but with the rest of his life... She thinks he knows just a bit about abandonment himself.

When he comes back (like she knew in her heart he would), she's already in bed. She watches him as he takes off his clothes, gets in beside her. He's about to turn his back to her when she reaches for him, holds his face with gentle hands and apologizes. His eyes search hers for a moment.

"I wouldn't leave you." He says simply, quietly. She tells him she knows- because really, she does. Sano isn't a man of poetry, the distinguishable gentleman of words she always expected to marry- but he is honest, he is true and caring and handsome and brave and funny and loves her for some reason and she just.

She places a hand on her belly as she continues stirring the stew and smiles softly.

No. She really wouldn't ask for it any other way.

...

His wife may be cutting his lifespan by fifteen years minimum-but fuck it. Sano was keenly aware how this would all go down the moment he laid eyes on her and he can't say he's too unhappy about it.

He thinks it's gonna be a girl.

Megumi insists he doesn't know that, tells him he's acting like an old country auntie with maid's tales of how she's been eating more sweet potatoes and less meats. She really can't stand the thought that he knows something she can't medically prove-but he knows, knows it as well as he knows the curve of Megumi's hip or that Kenshin is the kindest man to ever live. He knows and hopes not only will she be like her mother, but maybe a badass mix of them both: a girl with brains and fire in her eyes and insists on beating up every kid in the neighborhood.

"It sounds like hell," Megumi answers wryly when he tells her. "Honestly, are you even prepared for a little girl, then? Are you prepared for her to be a _teenager_? You don't wanna know what kind child I was."

"I kind of do, actually." He snickers, and he moves her hair aside to kiss her neck. "I'll make do. I feel like being with you already prepped me for the worst of woman kind."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," she swats his roaming hands away. "Just be prepared. You can't run away to all your foreign girlfriends and buddies anymore."

"Henriette from Paris will always wait for me."

"You're hilarious."

She turns her back to him to cut up some vegetables, stopping only to stretch her neck or smooth out the pains in her back.

Sanosuke remains entranced.

Because as much as he did enjoy seeing the world and all that (those were _fun_ years, being on the run), as much as he really did enjoy being his own man and all that-this is at least ten times better. This, he thinks when Megumi wipes sweat from her brow with her wrist, this is what he calls being happy. This is the woman who of course he could handle raising a little girl with; hell, if it's up to him he'd like to raise ten little girls with her, all with variations of brown or black hair with chocolate or violet eyes and just leading a chaotic life with this gorgeous woman, his days spent wrangling these kids outside of her own medical practice only to end the day falling into bed together and making love and making _more_ little girls and-

Okay, maybe he's getting ahead of himself. Megumi would look at him like he was insane if she knew he thought like this. But, hey. They've got years ahead of them to think about all that later, and he can learn to enjoy the quiet moments she puts his hand on her belly or when he nuzzles her neck during her work breaks.

It may be new to him, this domestic life-but taking things one step at a time is something Sanosuke can handle with Megumi.

(Besides: who needs to be the strongest man alive when he managed to get Megumi _barefoot and pregnant_?)


End file.
